Cambouis [masculine noun]: In French, dirty engine grease, oil that has turned black due to friction with the mechanics of an engine.
As a collector of classic cars, my father taught me the beauty of old engines when I was a teenager, while I watched him restore his Austin Healeys, Jaguars and Mercedes. We spent long winter Sundays in his workshop, immersing our hands in the guts of his sculptures on wheels.
The smell of dirty engine oil always attracted and repelled me at the same time. Although it was associated with happy moments in my life, this ‘engine sweat’ with its pungent smell of tar, petrol and oil was also unsettling. Many years later, when I read Jacques Lacarrière's book ‘Ce bel et vivace aujourd'hui’, I finally understood the hidden poetry of this ‘black sludge’ and decided to use it as a theme for my work.
My dirty engine grease will have the warmth of amber and animal musk notes, coloured by the strange blackness of a guaiac wood and violet leaf accord, while the sulphurous notes of blackcurrant bud, mixed with aldehydes, trace metallic contours, and essential mandarin oil adds the shine of chrome.
